


Let Me Follow You Down

by catwing, Neigedens



Series: Pirate AU [2]
Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirates, M/M, Rad Pirate Accessories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-10
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-15 06:00:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1293994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catwing/pseuds/catwing, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neigedens/pseuds/Neigedens
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"'Wait,' said Makoto. 'Am I missing something here? Haru, you tell me this story about how pirates are <i>horrible</i> and <i>murderous</i> and now you've decided you want to <i>go and find them again</i>?'"</p><p>or</p><p>In which Haruka and Co. make the regrettable decision to engage in pirate hunting, back story revelations, torrid romantic liaisons, pince-nez rescue missions, and other adventures on the high seas.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Haruka had been acting odd for weeks now, although Haru, by nature, was always odd, so it was difficult for Makoto to pinpoint exactly what was wrong until things came to a head.

The day they did, none of the other members of Makoto's family had noticed anything.

"Going to the wharf today?" Makoto's mother asked Haru, and when he nodded she produced a bento she'd made, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Thank you," said Haru, and bowed deeply.

"You're not going with him, Makoto?" his mother asked.

"No," said Makoto. "I'm going to the transportation bureau. To buy the ticket."

There was a pause all around the table, and Makoto winced when he realized that it had come out sounding much more ominous than he'd meant it to.

That was one reason why he hadn't been sure what to make of Haru lately. The tone of the entire household had been strange and tense as Makoto prepared for his departure.

Makoto was going to attend a university in Kyoto. He'd been accepted into the College of Law, which nobody believed because he was the least argumentative person in his entire family.

More importantly, though, Kyoto was a whole day's journey from home, and so far inland that Haru was about as likely to move there as he was to the surface of the moon.

He and Haru had known each other all their lives, and Haru had been living with Makoto's family for almost eight years now, ever since Haru's grandmother had died in a boating accident.

The day Haru came to live with them, Makoto’s family had come home from a walk on the wharf to find Haru sitting, hunched, sandy, and bleeding, on the front step of their house. Makoto’s mother had rushed him inside while his father ran for a doctor, and they’d insisted Haru stay until his wounds were healed. When he was better, they insisted he stay until he could get in touch with family. When no family ever appeared, they insisted he stay indefinitely.

Makoto still remembered Haruka’s wide, overlarge eyes back then, and the scars that took years to fade. He remembered realizing, one cold night as they lay huddled together in bed, that Haru had no family coming for him, and nowhere else to go. He’d reached for Haru’s hand and squeezed it, fighting back the sympathetic lump forming his throat.

Makoto was not self-important, but he knew that his moving so far away would be a big change for Haru, and he knew Haru didn't deal with change very well.

Not that it was his business, of course. Haru wasn't a child anymore, and Makoto knew perfectly well that if Haru realized Makoto was worrying over him like this, he would be annoyed.

"Are you scared, onii-chan?" asked Ran, breaking him out of his reverie. She leaned one elbow on the table towards him.

"No," said Makoto. "Why would I be scared to go to the transportation office?"

"Because a horse is going to take you to Kyoto soon," said Ren, leaning on his elbow towards Makoto as well. Ren and Ran were twins, and had recently taken to copying each other, either to annoy each other or to annoy everyone else. "Aren't you scared of horses?"

"Who said I was scared of horses?"

"Haru-chan told us that you once got scared by one. It came up behind you two on the road and you nearly fell down into the ditch."

"That is not what happened!" Makoto started to protest, but the twins cut him off with laughter.

"It's true!" they both shouted at the same time, their voices uniting in a shrill chirp that made something behind Makoto's right temple hurt.

"Isn't that right, Haru-chan?" asked Ren, but when he turned towards Haru's spot at the table, Haru was already gone.

Makoto frowned. Usually Haru said goodbye before leaving, to the twins if nobody else. He had taken off without so much as a word.

Ran must have noticed his expression. "Is Haru-chan mad at you?"

Makoto snapped out of it and glared down at her slightly. "Of course not. Why don't you finish your breakfast instead of worrying about me and Haru?"

She put her nose up in the air and made a "hmph!" noise. Ren did the same thing, and even though it was annoying, Makoto felt guilty for being short with them.

"Come on," he said as he stood. "Let's clean up."

Makoto did his chores and was almost on his way out the door when he was very surprised to be accosted by Haru once more.

"Could you give this back to your mother?"

Makoto looked down to see the lacquered box his mother had packed the bento in. "You ate it already?"

Haru shrugged. "I was hungry." He hesitated, looked at the bag Makoto had been preparing to bring into town, and then looked up again. "Tell her I said thank you."

The words hung in the air for a second. "Thank her again?"

Haru nodded. "See you," he said, and walked towards the door. Makoto watched him go, puzzled and feeling the same sense of unease he'd been feeling for weeks.

~

The Tachibana house was uphill from the center of town. Most places in Iwatobi were uphill, since the entire town faced the ocean and was surrounded by mountains on all remaining sides. There was one road out of town, which Makoto would be taking on his way to Kyoto. It wound around the mountains inland, but there was a quicker way out if you climbed directly over the mountains to another coastal town north of Iwatobi called Mizuho.

The cracked stone staircase was the easiest way to get to the bottom of the hill upon which the Tachibana house stood. When Makoto got to the bottom, he looked towards the road that led to the town and the footpath that went further north, a shortcut to the wharf and the beach.

After a second's deliberation, he took the footpath. It was about twenty minutes walk until he got to the wharf, which held several docks. There were a few boats anchored there, but most were gone by this time of day. Makoto didn't see Haru anywhere.

He headed still further north, up towards the beach. The beach was very narrow but long, running up the coast until it tapered off into the footpath over the mountains towards Mizuho at the northernmost point. That was where Makoto found Haru.

He was sitting on a large rock. It was wet and Makoto thought it was probably normally covered by the tide. Still, he sat down next to Haru.

Haru knew he was there, of course, but he still hadn't said anything. And, for once, Makoto had no clue how to start the conversation.

"You knew I would be here?" asked Haru finally. Although it might have been a statement.

"No," said Makoto. "I just…"

"Just what."

"I wandered." Haru looked at him sharply, and Makoto made a motion with one hand as if to say he didn't understand either. "I thought we could talk."

Haru turned back to looking out at the ocean, but nodded slightly.

"Talk about how you've been lately. You've been strange, but then everyone's strange lately. At first I thought it was about my going away but.... It's something else. Something else besides that. Isn't it?"

Haru paused a long while before speaking slowly. "I should have told you. I should have known you would notice something." He closed his eyes and tilted his head down in something like contrition. Makoto wondered if he regretted not telling Makoto or if he regretted being found out in the first place. He decided to be charitable and not think about it too much.

"You're running away," said Makoto, verbalizing it at last.

Haru nodded.

"Were you--" He bit his lip, struggling to not sound accusatory. "Without saying goodbye to all of us?"

"I was going to write," Haru added. "Before I left."

"Did you leave a note somewhere?" asked Makoto. "I didn't find one."

"I meant. Before I left the country. I was going to send a letter."

Makoto looked at Haru in honest confusion. It wasn't like Haru. Haru was secretive, yes, but not devious. He was a closed-off person, keeping elements of himself and his past to himself, but Makoto had never gotten the sense that the things Haru hid were going to drive him to something as dramatic as running away from home. Makoto felt sick with guilt and sadness to think he'd been so wrapped up in his own affairs he hadn't noticed whatever Haru was struggling with. He bit his lip before finally speaking. "I'm sorry. Won't you tell me what's wrong?"

"It's too hard to explain."

"How could you explain it all in a letter, then?"

Haru looked down at his own wet, sandy feet. He had rolled his pants up to his calves; he must have been wading in the surf. "I'm going to Mizuho. I have an appointment with someone there."

Makoto nodded, and pushed himself off the rock to stand in front of Haru. "I'll come with you."

"Makoto--"

"If you won't tell me why you're going all the way to Mizuho then I'm going to follow you there and find out," said Makoto.

"What about your ticket?"

"I'll get it later. My mother's already expecting us home late anyway."

Haru pressed his lips together in annoyance, but he probably realized fighting with Makoto over this was more effort than it was worth.

So they set off.

~

Mizuho was not a clean city, or at least it seemed that way to Makoto. It was on the coast, but that was really all it had going for it. It was larger than Iwatobi, but then there were shrimp boats that were larger than Iwatobi, so it wasn't saying much.

Haru led him down to the docks. The chief difference between Mizuho's docks and Iwatobi's was the diversity of the vessels. Unlike Iwatobi, which only had a few puny fishing boats, there were many different kinds of ships here, not all exactly Japanese-looking. For living all his life by the ocean, Makoto didn't know much about the terminology used to describe them. All he knew was that many of the vessels were foreign-looking and, more importantly, very large.

The one Haru led him to was quite typical, though. It was another fishing boat and had bright red sails that managed to look cheery rather than ominous. On the deck, towards the prow, was a young man, probably not older than either him or Haru. He was reading a book carefully, with a serious frown on his face. He wore a pair of pince-nez clipped to his nose and his movements were deliberate and fussy, somehow, even in little motions he made as he adjusted his eyeglasses or turned a page of the book. He certainly didn't look like the type to be working on a fishing boat; his hands were soft and he was pale enough that he probably didn’t work out of doors, Makoto thought.

Haru called out to him. "Ryuugazaki Rei?"

The man jumped and stood up quickly, as if he were a steward in a restaurant who had been late bringing their meals to them and now was struggling earnestly to correct it. "Nanase-san! I'm so glad to see you." He bowed towards Makoto deeply. "Allow me to get the ladder so you can come aboard."

"It's no problem," said Makoto, somewhat alarmed. Makoto's urge was to put Ryuugazaki at ease, for his own sake if not for Ryuugazaki's. He and Haru easily gripped the hull of the boat and hoisted themselves up. "Also, uh."

"I'm Nanase," said Haru.

Ryuugazaki's face turned red. "Of course! My apologies." He bowed deeply to Haru this time, speaking in a mournful tone as if he'd just personally defiled the tomb of one of Haru's ancestors.

"Don't worry about it," said Haru.

Ryuugazaki looked at both of them uneasily, and Makoto rushed to introduce himself. "I'm Tachibana Makoto. Haru lives with me and my family in Iwatobi."

"Oh. Of course." Ryuugazaki was still unsure. He looked as if he had unpleasant news and didn't know how to break it to them.

"Are you still looking for a buyer for this boat?" Haru said.

"Well...that is what I had told the agent in Iwatobi. No doubt that is the person who told you to contact me." Haru nodded. "However. I'm no longer certain if that's the best course of action." He took off his pince-nez and began wiping them on his sleeve. "Am I to understand that you're interested in buying, Nanase-san?"

"What's making you hesitant about selling it?" asked Haru, avoiding the question.

"It's not due to its condition, if that's what you're thinking." Ryuugazaki smiled softly, which made his face look less tense and self-important. "I inherited this boat when my grandfather died, and I'm maybe a little sentimental about it."

"You want to use it for yourself?" asked Makoto, surprised.

"It's a bit foolish of me, perhaps. After all, I'm not much of a seaman. I know I certainly don't look like one."

"You could take me, then," said Haru suddenly. "Take me where I want to go."

"And where's that?" asked Makoto, but Ryuugazaki was answering Haru.

"Well. I could, even though, as I said, I don't have much experience--"

"I do," said Haru. "I could help."

Rei was blushing slightly again. "Of course. As much of an honor as it would be to escort you and Tachibana-san--"

"Makoto can't come with us," said Haru. "He's leaving soon."

This was too much for Makoto. He nearly forgot Ryuugazaki was there when he rounded on Haru. "Don't speak for me! Before I leave anywhere I want to know what you're doing here and where you want him to take you. Why can't you just tell me, Haru?"

There was a stillness on the deck as Makoto's words sunk in. Haru was looking down with an unreadable expression on his face, his eyebrows slightly drawn together. Makoto wanted to apologize to him, but he still wanted answers too badly to try and smooth things over like he would normally.

It was Ryuugazaki who broke the silence, surprisingly. "Perhaps I could be of help. You don't mind if I tell Tachibana-san about the letter you wrote me, Nanase-san?"

Haru shook his head, still looking at the deck.

"Nanase-san sent me a letter asking me for help locating a certain ship. A pirate ship he had contact with almost ten years ago."

Makoto blinked. "A pirate ship?"

"Pirate ships, of course, are a little harder to trace than legitimate ones, but Nanase-san impressed me as being familiar with its route of pillage, especially in this time of year."

Makoto could feel only disbelief. He gaped at Ryuugazaki because he didn't dare look at Haru. "A pirate ship."

"Hailing a pirate ship, of course, is something of a sticky business." He paused slightly under Makoto's stare before going on. "However, there are codes involved, which I have since done extensive research on." He cleared his throat. "Of course. The reason the agent in Iwatobi might have given Nanase-san an idea to contact me is because of the peculiar history of this vessel."

"What do you mean?"

Rei smiled ruefully. "I didn't know of this until I came to Mizuho to come settle his affairs, but apparently fishing wasn't the only way my grandfather made his livelihood. There are signs--nothing too obvious, but signs-- that he might have been engaged in some illicit smuggling. There are several false panels in some of the bulkheads in the hold, containing caches of contraband--dry goods, clothing, and spirits from China, Korea. Maybe even farther than that."

Makoto felt slightly weak. "Do--do pirates care if you're a smuggler?"

"Well. It's a theory I would be interested to test out," said Ryuugazaki, readjusting the bridge of his eyeglasses. "Whether or not the appearance of this ship will make things easier or significantly hinder us in our diplomatic concerns. However..." He looked expectantly at Haru, and Makoto did too. "Perhaps Nanase-san could explain to us his reasoning for wanting to take the journey. His exact reasoning."

Haru nodded, keeping his head low. "I'll explain it. To both of you, if you like."

"Haru," said Makoto, and was arrested when Haru looked right at him instead of turning away. "Is this...is this something to do with your grandma?"

Haru nodded, and for once his habitual expression of disinterest was tinged with something like...regret? Sadness? Either way, he turned to Rei. "Your grandfather. You said he had something to drink down in the hold?"

Rei was surprised. "Yes. Down by the sleeping quarters. They aren't much, I should warn you. The sleeping quarters."

"That's fine," said Haru. "We should probably have a drink." The look on his face was one of a man who knew he had an arduous but necessary duty to perform. For once, at least, he didn't look bored or hesitant at the idea of talking."It's a long story."

~

Rei had been right; the cabin of his grandfather's boat was cozy. There wasn't a lot of space because most of it was taken up by various types of contraband, some of which Makoto had never even heard of before.

The three of them fit easily enough, though, and it meant that Haru didn't have to speak much louder than he normally did for them to hear his story.

Haru began slowly, in a low voice, and rarely looked at either of them as he spoke.

"My grandma always took me out to fish with her since I was a kid. One day, when I was twelve, we were attacked by a pirate ship. It was the biggest boat I've ever seen so it approached very slowly. She didn't say anything, but it was obvious she recognized it, or at least knew what it meant. She packed in all her gear and started rowing to get away.

"It moved quickly for how big it was. When it got close, she started shouting at me to swim away back to shore." He paused here, and it occurred to Makoto that he hadn't ever heard Haru's grandmother raise her voice, and he had known her almost long as Haru had. "I didn't. Obviously. She was still trying to out-row it, but that was when it started shooting."

Makoto sat up straight, alarmed. "Shooting what?"

"Harpoons. Not cannonballs. They just wanted to stop us, not blow us completely out of the water." He paused, took a sip of his drink, and went on. "Which they almost did anyway. Our boat was nearly sunk and we were in the water. I remember treading water and her grabbing me, but I think something must have hit my head because I don't remember being awake when their boats got close enough to grab us."

He paused again; Haru wasn't much of a storyteller, but Makoto found himself leaning forward to hear more anyway. He had to forcibly keep himself from interrupting.

Finally, Haru went on. "So I passed out and when I woke up I was in a hold on a strange ship. It was completely dark but my grandma was there." He suddenly looked thoughtful. Not sad, but he trailed off as if he'd forgotten other people were there. "She made sure I wasn't hurt and then she told me to fall asleep again. So I did, but when I woke up she wasn't there. Somebody else was."

He paused again, this time for such a long time Makoto finally couldn't help himself. Rei was listening in reverential silence, but Makoto ventured a question: "Who?"

"Rin." He paused for a second. "That was his name. He was the cabin boy on the ship, I guess, but he was young. My age. He was almost the exact same height as me." Makoto frowned; it seemed like an odd detail for Haru to remember. "Anyway. He had snuck in to see me when he wasn't supposed to."

"Why'd he do that?"

Haru turned his hands upwards on the table, as if to say he didn't know. "That type of person, I suppose. He was...troublesome. A bother. When his caretaker found him with me he got in trouble, but he came back to see me again anyway. I snuck out with him, and we went to find my grandma." Haru didn’t smile, quite, but for an instant it looked to Makoto like he came close.

Makoto gave him a second, and then asked another question: "What about the caretaker? The one Rin got in trouble with."

Haru shrugged. "Just some guy."

Makoto nearly sighed. "Of course." Naturally, Haru's detailed retelling of his memory wasn't going to extend to everything. Makoto was surprised it had extended as far as it had, honestly. He decided to try another questioning tack: "How long was this? I remember when they found the wreckage of your grandma's boat. It couldn't have been more than three days you were with the pirates, right?"

Haru nodded. "Rin snuck me out that evening. That's when we went to look for my grandma."

Another pause. "Did you...find her? Eventually?"

Haru nodded, softly. "For a second. Yeah." His voice was level and seemed to come from a long way away. "In the captain's cabin. She was there. With the captain and some other pirates. I…."

Another silence; the air in the cabin was completely still. Makoto wouldn't have dreamed of rushing Haru on at this point, or even speaking at all.

"That was the last time I saw her. I tried to talk to her but they kept me away, and she… she was talking to a man who must have been the captain. She must have made some deal with them. So they would send me home without her."

Makoto looked down at his hands, which he'd been clenching without thinking about it. When he looked back up at Haru, he was surprised to see Haru looking back at him, and suddenly there was only one question he could ask: "That still doesn't explain how you got your scars."

Haru nodded and looked briefly towards Rei, who had been listening raptly throughout. "No. It doesn't. That was after. When Rails took me in the boat back to land."

"Rails?" asked Makoto, brow furrowing. "Who's Rails?"

"Rin's caretaker. He was the pirates' odd job man, I guess. Rin and Kou told me he did a lot of stuff like that. The dirty work."

"Wait. Who's Kou?"

"Rin's little sister," said Haru hurriedly. "She and Rin both told me what to do when he took me out in the boat. How to get away."

Makoto clenched his fists again and Rei's face looked pale. "You mean to say," began Rei, "that they never intended to send you back to Iwatobi alive in the first place?"

"No," said Haru, in a tone so detached it was like he was talking about somebody else. "No, I don't think they did."

 

~

_"You absolutely do not swim until you've seen the shore," Kou had said to him. She and Rin peered at him through a slat in the door where he was being held. Yellow lantern light illuminated their eyes, but otherwise they were all Haru could see. "Do not even try it. If you're out there on the open ocean with him, there's no way you're getting away."_

_"But you're gonna have to swim for it," Rin had said. "Can you swim?"_

_"Yes," Haru had said through a mouthful of fish. They'd brought him food. They insisted he'd need his strength._

_"But can you swim fast?"_

_He swallowed his fish, despite how salty it was, and looked Rin in the eyes._

_"Yes. You don't have to worry about that."_

_"Good. You'll need to."_

_"He's sure to kill you by the shore," Kou had said, the shadows on her small face making her look very grave. "They want your body washing up on land. As a warning."_

_He had finished the food already but he was feeling a little sick anyway. "How do you know for sure?"_

_"We don't," said Rin. "All we know is what we're telling you."_

_"You'll have a better chance in the water."_

_Haruka hadn't really needed to be told that, though. It was something he'd known all along._

~

"It was too foggy to see much when he did try to kill me," said Haru, and even for Haru he sounded unbelievably restrained.

"What did you do?" asked Rei.

Haru shrugged. "Swam for it. Took my best guess."

"Did he try to drown you?" asked Rei. Makoto felt frozen in horror, and even as he watched Haru answer, he guessed what Haru was going to say next.

"No. He had a knife. I think he wanted to cut my throat."

~

_Looking back on it, he thought that panic was his chief emotion at that moment. Panic, and maybe a desperate resignation, as if part of him knew it was no good. He didn't like to imagine it._

_Adrenaline came with the panic too, though. It surged through him, and he threw himself towards the side of the boat, so the whole thing rocked like a giant cradle. It threw Rails off-balance, enough to keep the knife away from Haru's throat but not enough to completely upend Rails._

_Haru rocked the small boat to the side once more, and this time it worked. Both of them went falling headfirst into the water. Haru started treading water and looked down to see nothing but red. The knife had caught him across the chest in a long gash and he hadn't even realized until now._

_Regardless, he kicked away from Rails, hoping that he hadn't lost his bearings. He kicked his legs and tried to feel the water rushing around the rest of his body, not just the parts that stung when the saltwater hit them. He darted more quickly than he ever had in his life. His heart ached and his eyes smarted._

_Eventually, when he came up for air, he blinked and saw the peak of a mountain, and then a stretch of shore. Behind him there was no sign of Rails, or of the boat. By the time he reached the shore, he was nearly dead of exhaustion and in more pain than he'd been in in his life._

_When he crawled onto the beach, all he could do was collapse. He spread out on the sand as if embracing it and stayed like that for a long time, trying to catch his breath by taking in great heaving gulps of air. His chest was clenched and tight no matter how much he tried to calm down, and his eyes stung of saltwater for a long time afterwards. He didn't care about his wounds or the grit getting into them, and part of him felt like he never would care, about them or anything else, ever again._

~

When Haru was done, he stared into the glass of beer Rei had given to him. All three of them were silent.

Makoto looked at Rei; surprisingly, his eyes were almost shining, but maybe that was the effect of the pince-nez. When he saw Makoto looking, he jumped and took off his eyeglasses, busying himself with cleaning them as he muttered. "Remarkable...just. Astounding, Haruka-san. That you escaped, I mean. But your grandmother..."

"I don't know what they did with her," said Haru slowly. "It's likely they killed her. Maybe not, though."

"They told her they wouldn't kill you," said Makoto. "Why did Rails…"

Haru shrugged. "They're pirates. They lie."

There was another pause. Makoto watched Haru shrewdly while Rei reaffixed his pince-nez.

"Well. Haruka-san. I would be happy--no. Delighted. Delighted to take the charge you have given me. I would be honored to assist you." Haru looked a little confused over Rei's demeanor but mostly pleased.

"Wait," said Makoto, looking back and forth at both of them. "Am I missing something here? Haru, you tell me this story about how pirates are _horrible_ and _murderous_ and now you've decided you want to _go and find them again_?"

Haru looked at him. "They weren't all murderous."

"What?"

"Rin and Kou. They both saved my life."

"Well." Some of Makoto's anger and confusion had dissipated. "Sure. But that doesn't mean you should just go _running off_ looking for them just to say thanks!"

"Makoto." Haru was looking right at him. "I knew you wouldn't like it. That's why I left without saying anything. I didn't know how to tell you the story." There was a pause and Haru looked briefly thoughtful. "I guess just...telling you was pretty easy."

"Yes, that's often the way of it," said Makoto, and he couldn't help smiling a little.

Haru saw it and one corner of his mouth twitched. "Anyway. I want to find them. I want to know what happened to my grandma and…" He looked at the beer again. "I guess I would like to thank Rin and Kou. If they're still around. Rei?"

Rei had been watching both of them intently, and seemed surprised to be included in the conversation again. "Yes?"

"Thank you for agreeing to take me. I've brought all the money I have with me, so we can set off as soon as Makoto goes back to Iwatobi."

Makoto was again overtaken by feelings of worry so crushing they were almost like disbelief. "Should you really," he said, "take _all_ your money with you when you're going to find pirates?"

Rei and Haru just stared at him.

He sighed. "Right. I think...Haru. I should go with you."

Haru raised his eyebrows. "What about Kyoto?"

Makoto shrugged. "I've got a month. How long can it really take to chase down pirates?"

"I'm not sure," said Haru, much too seriously.

"Well, so be it. I'll sleep better if I come with you," said Makoto.

A few hours later, when Rei was getting provisions in order and Makoto was finishing up an apologetic letter to his family, he brought the subject up with Haru again.

"Are you sure about this?"

"Yes." Bored tone.

"But--"

"Makoto. My grandma obviously had business with pirates. That's probably who my parents were," said Haru, his tone unusually sharp. Makoto sat up; he'd never heard Haru talk about his parents before, even speculatively. "That's who I should be too. I should be out there on the water. Better than here on land where I'm just an imposition."

"An imposition?" Makoto said, horrified. "Haru, I-- you were never an imposition. I mean, I've--" He stumbled trying to find his words. "I've _never_ \--nobody ever thought of you like that. I know I didn't, and my family doesn't either."

Haru was looking down. "I appreciate it," he said woodenly. "I just...I have to do this." He paused, then stood up. "I should go help Rei with the packing."

Makoto watched him go abovedecks, still reeling slightly. He sighed and then looked down at the letter. The ink was dry, so he carefully folded it up, sealed it, and followed Haru up the stairs.

~

"Elementary cartography can help us here, as you can see from the charts, Makoto-san."

"Mmm." They had been on the ocean for not even a day yet. There was a strange tension between him and Haru, so Makoto had taken to letting Rei explain his maps to him.

It wasn't even that Makoto was angry with Haru; things might have been easier if he were. He was confused, and wanted to ask more questions, but he knew Haru too well to expect any straight answers.

Objectively, Makoto thought, this entire expedition was incredibly ill-advised, incredibly dangerous, and incredibly likely to get them all killed. What made Haru think it was a good idea?

Of course, Haru had always been strange, since they were children, but what about Rei? What made Rei go along with it?

Makoto looked over at their captain, who was no longer studying his maps and instead was studying Haru, who was some ways down the deck from them and in the middle of taking his shirt off. Then Haru bent one of his arms back behind his head and pulled on his elbow, flexing the muscles in his lean back. Rei stared. When he noticed Makoto looking at him, though, he cleared his throat and looked back at his maps, shuffling several of the papers around.

Makoto just kept himself from sighing impatiently. Maybe he understood a little bit of why Rei was going along with Haru's plans.

To be fair to Rei, however, Makoto was sure it wasn't solely base physical attraction to Haru motivating him. Even after a brief acquaintance, it was evident that Rei was strange. Not in the same way Haru was, but maybe their strangeness was similar enough that they could run parallel to each other in their perception of the world and, more specifically, their perception of the advisedness of pirate chasing.

And of course, none of that accounted for Makoto himself. Why was Makoto here, when there were several very good reasons for him not to be, not even counting the sheer, impractical madness of the whole endeavor?

Before he could answer his own question, his thoughts were disturbed by a splash. Haru had fallen over the railing of the boat and a second later Makoto darted to the spot, shouting Haru's name and looking around frantically for his head to resurface.

"Haru! Haru!" He looked around and next to him saw a rope hanging over the side into the water, but before he could grab it he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Makoto-san. Don't worry. Haruka-san asked me to lower the sails a bit so he could have a swim in the ocean. He can use the rope to climb back when he's done." Haru had resurfaced several yards away from the boat, floating on his back and looking completely unworried.

"Oh," Makoto said, slightly embarrassed as his panic dissipated. "Yes. That...yeah. Obviously." He sat back down next to the maps Rei had been showing him, feeling his face getting red.

Rei watched Haru swim on his back through the water for several feet, but then he turned to Makoto. "Are you alright?"

"Yes. I'm fine," he said. Too quickly.

If Rei was a little bemused, he hid it well. When he spoke, his voice was kind and Makoto felt his face get even hotter with shame. "You're a little nervous around the ocean, I take it?"

"A little." An understatement: he was _terrified_ of it.

Rei nodded. "Understandable." He paused before adding, "It's very commendable. That you follow your friend on this mission, even despite that."

Makoto looked at him sharply, and then looked back out at the ocean to watch Haru swimming. "Thank you." He looked back at Rei and haphazardly changed the subject. "So what were you saying about these maps?"

"Ah, yes. Haruka-san has helpfully mapped out what we believe to be the large pirate ship's route of pillage. As you can see, we're starting to enter onto the waters where pirate scout ships are known to frequent."

"Scout ships?"

"Yes. Minor ships that serve the fleet with the largest one as the flagship. The scout ships tend to be smaller and faster."

The wind had changed; even with the sails turned down, the whole boat had started to drift a little faster. Haru was climbing up the rope and back onto the deck. "What do they look like?" asked Makoto, suddenly squinting far off into the distance.

"Oh, well, it depends. Oftentimes they have white sails and, I'm given to understand, black hulls, which could perhaps be a psychological tactic meant to intimidate or surprise victims by mimicking the appearance of the well-known Black Ships, commanded, as you no doubt know, by Commodore Perry in 18--"

"So, like that, then," said Makoto, pointing to the ship that had just appeared on the horizon at the same time Haru pulled himself back onto the deck.

"We may have a problem," he said to both of them as Rei jumped up, knocking all his maps to the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> At sixteen, Nagisa was not a pirate.

At sixteen, Nagisa was not a pirate.

It was a few weeks past his birthday when Nagisa left his house and wandered down the the ocean and onto the fishing docks alone.

An approaching ship caught Nagisa’s attention, and he hopped off the rail to peer at it. It was moving so quickly. He ran the rest of the way down the dock and leaned off the edge to get a better look at it as it drew closer. It was huge, Nagisa could see now, three times the size of any of boat he'd seen before. The sky was tinged deeper orange with shades of red, and the ship looked black against it.

It was then that Nagisa saw the flag. Pirates.

_Pirates._

Nagisa stumbled back from the edge, looking around. The wharf was abandoned. Everyone else was busy in their houses, cleaning up after dinner and getting their children ready for bed. Who would warn them?

Nagisa’s first impulse was to run for town, but he knew he’d never make it back down the dock in time, much less to the village.

Just then, Nagisa saw movement on the deck of the pirate ship. It was in the relative shallows now and couldn’t come closer. He watched, horrified and awestruck, as the first ropes were thrown overboard, and the pirates hit the water and swam toward him.

Later, Nagisa could never say quite what possessed him to just stand there on the very edge of the dock, a slight teenage boy, barefoot and unarmed, waiting for the pirates to come to him. Maybe it was the fact that he knew there was no chance of escape. Maybe it was sheer, overpowering curiosity. But Nagisa loved the idea that part of him already knew he belonged on that ship. That was always what he said, later, when he was telling the story.

 

~

Onboard, Nagisa was thrown into the hold with a few other people he didn’t recognize. He wondered if they’d surrendered, too, but thought it might be rude to ask. Two women huddled together, one crying, and the middle aged man didn’t seem to want to chat, so Nagisa finally curled up in a corner in the wee hours of the night and slept. He could hear screams in the distance as he drifted off. He tried not to think about it.

When he woke the next morning, the ship was moving. He bounced to his feet and pressed his face against the bars of the cell, trying to get a look at the surroundings now that there was a little more light to see by.

After failing to see much of anything, Nagisa noticed one of the women was crying again.

He scooted over near her.

"Hey," he said, bumping her shoulder with his own. "Don’t worry, we don’t really know what they want with us yet. It might not be so bad." She looked at him incredulously, still tearful.

"What could they possibly want with us that would be good?" she wanted to know. It was a fair question. Nagisa considered.

"I’m not sure," he conceded. "I’m really hungry though, I bet food would make you feel better too. I’m sure they’ll bring us some soon."

The door to the hold opened, and someone came down the stairs, lugging a heavy bucket.

"Hey!" Nagisa said, plastering himself against the front of the cell. "What’s your name?"

The pirate, a stooped older man with grizzled stubble and an unhealthy tinge to his skin, gave him a look eerily reminiscent of the one he’d just gotten from his cell-mate. Nagisa was undeterred.

"Mine’s Hazuki! Nagisa, if you like," he smiled as the pirate wearily set down his bucket, ignoring him. Nagisa leaned back, swinging from the bars of his cell. "What are you doing there? Mopping? That’s great, this place really needs it..."

 

~

The mop pirate, whose name turned out to be Fujino, was the only person who ever came down to the hold. He brought them bread crusts and scraps in the evenings, and mopped the floor in the mornings. Nagisa became fond of him. He always looked so cranky.

By the third day, Nagisa had managed to convince Fujino to let him out of his cell so he could carry the bucket while the old man mopped. Within a week, Nagisa was performing every one of Fujino's duties in exchange for precious hours of freedom. Usually he worked in the hold, but sometimes Fujino would make him come above-decks to help him. Nagisa loved it, even though the old man watched him suspiciously the entire time he was out of the cell.

Fujino-chan wasn't particularly bright, or particularly talkative, which was too bad for Nagisa. Fujino didn't trust Nagisa and wouldn't believe that Nagisa would not escape if left unattended. But the truth was that Nagisa wasn't homesick in the slightest. He longed for the busy life of the pirate ship that he could feel taking place above their heads, which he was only allowed brief glimpses into for minutes at a time under Fujino-chan's strict supervision.

He ended up learning plenty of details of life aboard the ship in any case. He didn't have any practical use for the knowledge until one morning several weeks after he'd been taken captive.

When Fujino came to open his cell, Nagisa could hear him grumbling and wheezing before he even opened the hatch. He was soaking wet, and looked terrible. Nagisa supposed Fujino was stressed by whatever piratey politics were coming to a head today. He didn't ask because he knew the old man wouldn't answer, and in fact didn't speak at all until about fifteen minutes later.

"Fujino-chan," Nagisa half shouted from the other end of the hold.

There was no answer, not even a grunt, and Nagisa poked his head around the corner of a cell. "Fujino-chan?"

Fujino was sitting on the stair like always, but his head had fallen forward on his chest.

Nagisa came back. "Did you fall asleep?" Nagisa stifled a giggle, then tilted his head.

"Fujino?" Nagisa prodded Fujino's chest, and when there was no response he checked for a pulse.

"Oh my god," he said finally, speaking out loud to himself. "I think he just... died?"

Nagisa's eyes widened. Fujino was dead, the cell was locked, and he was on the outside. He looked up at the deck, and then back at his cell.

His cellmates were all long gone, killed or just disappeared. (It was another thing he tried not to think about too hard.)

At first he was resolved to stay hidden if he could. He would never make it to land if he tried to swim on his own, and staying near Fujino's corpse meant he was probably risking detection, but nevertheless he decided to stowaway as best he could. It was a big ship, and there were plenty of places to hide.

His resolve lasted about a day. He first risked being noticed for a chance at a full meal when food was being rationed out, before perching on the edge of the ship to eat. After dark, he trailed after the crowd into a darkened cabin. It was filled with hammocks strung up in clusters from the ceiling, cots littering the floor.

Nagisa found a spare blanket in a corner and stretched out on the floor, watching the hammocks creak and swing above him. Nagisa squirmed with sudden excitement. He hadn’t been caught. He could do this. He could pass as a pirate. He could infiltrate the world of piracy, like a spy! No one had noticed him yet. After all, the only people who had laid eyes on him in weeks were dead or mysteriously disappeared.

The next morning Nagisa flirted cheerfully with the cook’s helper and helped himself to extra food. He spent the day following the biggest crowds of pirates around, pretending he knew what he was supposed to be doing and watching carefully to try to figure it out.

The next few weeks were, oddly enough, some of the most enjoyable of Nagisa’s life. He was giddy with the fact that he was getting away with this. These were tough, scary pirates, and Nagisa was fooling them all.

 

~

A few weeks into Nagisa’s subterfuge, a small group of mutineers was discovered and summarily executed by the captain. Nagisa nabbed one of the hammocks while they were were still free. After that he considered himself part of the crew.

He was small and he had no training with any kind of weapon, but he was good at distracting enemies during scuffles, and staying out of the way when that wasn’t possible. During raids he usually stuck to running into houses whose inhabitants had already been driven out and grabbing whatever was most valuable. He had a good eye for it.

He turned most of his finds over at the end of the raid, but a few things he kept for himself. Mostly they were little items he could keep on his person, since there wasn’t much point trying to hold onto anything else. He got in the habit of giving himself new piercings whenever he found things he really liked, but his favorite pilfered item was a slim dagger on a belt that attached underneath his vest (another new acquisition.)

It never stopped pleasing Nagisa that he’d fooled every one of these people, insinuated himself seamlessly into this life with no one the wiser. He loved the sea, and he adored the deception and trickery. He had a talent for it, too, Nagisa reflected one night, perched in the crow's nest with his feet hanging over the edge. It was summer, and the breeze was light and pleasant, even up as high as he was.

I’ve tricked all of these pirates, Nagisa though, grinning. I’m a better pirate than any of them.

He sat up, suddenly full of energy, and peered out over the water, breathing in salt. He suddenly realized there were other pirate ships out there, other crews of miscreants, other treasure. He rested his chin on one hand dreamily. All of a sudden he knew: it was time he moved on.

His opportunity came within a fortnight, when they made berth in a cove, close enough to shore to swim, near a small town for some business of the captain’s.

Nagisa hid up in the crow's nest till the dead of night, then when everything was still, peeked out over the edge. There was a guard on deck, and Nagisa sat back, a little daunted.

The big, burly pirate was sitting, but awake and watchful. Nagisa didn’t think he could sweet talk his way past, and there seemed equally little chance of the man simply drifting off or getting distracted from his job later in the night. There was nothing for it, Nagisa decided, and hopped out, swinging to grab hold of the sail.

He slid down the sail’s side, careful to keep out of the guard’s sight, and lowered himself from the boom to drop soundlessly to the deck. He tiptoed up behind the guard, reaching for his dagger. Not giving himself time to hesitate, he grabbed hold of the man’s hair and slashed the blade through his neck in one swift movement, then jumped away to avoid the falling body.

Nagisa looked away and waited until he was sure the guard was all the way dead, then took a deep breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. There was blood everywhere. It was pretty gross. Nagisa let the breath out slowly, calming himself, then quickly stepped to the side of the ship, fastened a rope, and hopped overboard.

At the shore, Nagisa stood ankle deep in the tide and stared at his hands. He felt like he ought to. There wasn’t any blood left on them; the swim to land had taken care of all that. They looked small and incongruously harmless, and Nagisa thought maybe they would shake, but they didn’t.

It had been a year, he realized. Just a year. He could go back to living normally now, if that was what he wanted. He could say he had been captured and just barely escaped with his life. He could pretend for the rest of his life that he wasn’t a pirate. He could fool them all.

He didn’t want to.

In the nearby town, Nagisa laid low for a few days, then set about exploring local taverns. For the next few months, he got by on petty theft. He flirted his way into their beds at night and stole their purses in the morning.

But there was one tavern he would never risk more than the most petty theft in, for fear of getting banned. It was a _nice_ tavern, warm and bright and bustling. The owners were good-natured and savvy and the usual crowd was rowdy in a pleasant sort of way. But more importantly, to Nagisa at least, was the pirate girl who frequented the place.

Or, more specifically, her hat.

She was small, maybe a year or so younger than him and only a touch taller, but she carried herself with a kind of brassy, business-like bravado that made people step out of her way. Without fail, when she came into the tavern, she claimed a table, ordered a drink, and spent the evening poring over the assortment of documents and maps alone. She wore her blood red hair down, sometimes brushing it back off her shoulders as she bent to mark or circle something with an ink pen.

She dressed practically, in a dark wine-colored vest and high-waisted trousers, and Nagisa had never seen her when she wasn’t wearing the single most spectacular hat he’d ever laid eyes on. It was soft black leather, supple and beautifully shaped, and its rim was adorned by an electric blue feather that swept back elegantly.

Nagisa coveted it. Beyond coveted. He was overwhelmed with passionate desire for this hat. It was the only hat for him. He vowed to never look at another hat as long as he lived.

Nagisa sat across the room from her, his feet tucked up on his chair, and considered strategy. He’d never seen her take the hat off, much less leave it unattended, and she didn’t look like the type to let someone nab an item of clothing off her head. She never carried anything but her satchel full of maps, letters and books, but Nagisa was willing to bet money she was carrying blades of some kind on her person. No, deception and underhanded trickery were the only way to go, Nagisa decided. Luckily, that was quickly becoming his area of expertise.

Nagisa’s first method of attack was to plop down at her table, smile brightly at her, and chirp, "Nice hat!"

"Thank you!" she replied, smiling sweetly and setting her elbows on whatever she was poring over, blocking it from Nagisa’s view. Suddenly insatiably curious, Nagisa tilted his head to peer down at it.

"What’s that?" he asked.

Her smile went flat so quickly Nagisa shrank back.

"I bet it’s a treasure map," Nagisa declared, rallying. He leaned back in and trying to slide it out from under her arms.

"It’s a map back to your own table, I’ll read it to you."

Nagisa was undeterred.

"Is it a code you’re trying to crack?"

The girl sighed, closing her eyes as if gathering her patience. Remembering his mission, Nagisa considered grabbing the hat and making a run for it. But he was so curious now.

"It is a code," the girl said. "And I am trying to crack it. I would be getting on much better if you would go back to your own table and leave me alone." She bent and turned her attention back to the papers. Nagisa felt effectively dismissed in spite of himself.

"I wonder," he said with mock severity, "what the owners would say if they knew about the illicit pirate business you’ve been conducting under their noses this whole time."

"There’s no law against having an interest in old maps," she replied primly, not looking up. "Especially a purely scholarly interest like mine."

She sounded bored, and Nagisa felt at a loss. He wasn’t getting a look at those papers, or, more importantly, any nearer an opportunity to steal her hat. There was nothing to do but make a tactical retreat. As he got up as if to leave, he asked her name.

She looked up at him, her eyes slightly narrowed, as if sizing him up.

"It’s Kou," was all she said before turning back to her work.

"Kou?" he said. "Not Gou? As in the daimyo Azai Nagamasa's third daughter during the Sengoku period."

"I wouldn't know," she said, not looking up. "In any case. Kou."

"Alright, alright. That’s too bad, it would be really fitting if it was Gou." She looked up at him. "Because you’re sooo regal and beautiful." He grinned. She didn’t blink, and he faltered. "So yeah I uh. Just want to make sure. About that." She was giving him such a dead-eyed stare that he found himself trailing off into silence, which he normally never did.

When Nagisa flirted with someone, he expected them to react. React positively, react negatively, it was all the same to him, since both reactions gave him something to work with. The response of utter blank apathy offered nothing.

And it would have been one thing if she just didn't _understand_ , but it was equally clear to Nagisa that she did. She saw through him completely, much quicker than most people. She might not have known what he wanted, but she knew that she would not give it to him.

This persisted over the next week. Whenever he saw her, he had some new subterfuge, which never worked.

"I'll give you money for the hat," he said, which bemused her. "Whatever you want."

"I don't want your money."

"Why not?"

"It's probably stolen," she said, laughing.

He stuck his lip out in a pout. What did that matter? He doubted her coins were that much more ethically obtained, not that he would dare accuse her of something like that.

Sometimes she treated him laughingly, and sometimes with derision, but she never bothered to mask her outright distrust.

"What if I said," he began slowly, "that I would steal some priceless jewelry from a rich lady and plant it on you. Unless you give me that hat."

"You know, I can't quite make you out. What's your angle?"

He stared at her in disbelief. "What's my angle? I told you my angle."

"Besides that," she said, waving one hand dismissively. "There must be something else you want. Nobody would go to so much trouble over a dumb hat."

"It's a nice hat," he said defensively. He considered. "Will you fight me for it?"

She resolutely ignored him for the rest of the night.

She was wrong, of course; he had no other motive for talking to her than the hat. There was no other reason for it, unless, of course, you wanted to get fatalistic again. Maybe he'd known, in the back of his mind, that he and Kou would be good luck for each other, and the universe had chosen to inform him of his good fortune in the form of a very attractive piece of headwear with a bright blue feather.

"Kou-chan," he said.

She looked up at him, surprised at the familiarity. Thus far he'd been treating her much more formally than he did everyone else; the Hat inspired fear and respect in him like nothing else ever had. "What is it?"

He wound a lock of his hair around his finger as he spoke. "Do you see that man over there? The large man with the many rings?"

Kou looked where he was indicating. The old man was sitting at the bar, getting drunk in the same joyless way he did most nights. "What about him?"

"He's a regular here. I thought you might recognize him. He owns one of the textile factories in this town. Do you know what conditions are like in the factory? I've never been there, but apparently they're pretty bad. Horrible!" He paused to see how she was reacting; her eyes were narrowed and she looked interested, yet suspicious. "There are many children who work there. There are many women who are sick, and aren't given leave or if they do they know for sure they'll starve. There's rumors that he works them like animals, and that they're basically slaves. And yet look at him. Living high off the hog every night. You must see him as much as I do."

She nodded. "What's your point?"

"You must know his type."

"His type?" She considered. "Yes, I suppose I do. I've seen plenty like him. And much worse."

Nagisa nodded. "So have I."

"What's your point, Nagisa?" she asked again, calling him by his name for the first time. It didn't occur to him until later that he'd never told her what it was.

"My point," he said, playing with his hair again, "is that here is a man no one would miss. The world would be better off without him."

She narrowed her eyes. "So?"

" _So_ , what if I said that I would implicate you in his untimely stabbing--" here he paused for effect-- "unless you gave me that lovely hat?"

She made a high-pitched noise of frustration and suddenly threw the remains of her drink on him in exasperation. Nagisa was so surprised he barely noticed that she stormed out right afterwards.

He licked the sweet wine off his lips thoughtfully. "I think I'm getting somewhere,” he said to himself. The entire bar was staring at him, except for the factory owner, who ordered another drink and didn't seem to have noticed anything that had happened.

 

~

Nagisa strode boldly up to Kou’s table. He was determined to get that hat today. His plan was foolproof. He planted both hands on the table, grinning triumphantly, and opened his mouth.

"Oh good, it’s you," Kou said, cutting him off.

"Huh?"

"Sit down and help me with this," she said, gesturing to the chair. Nagisa, too surprised to argue, sat.

"Now," Kou continued, lacing her fingers and resting on her chin on them. "This is an old map. It's taken me a month to work out the coordinate system and translate it into Japanese, and I still can barely make out anything. It's like a puzzle." She glared fiercely at the piece of paper in front of her; Nagisa almost felt sorry for the map. Then she turned that sharp gaze at him. " I've been staring at it too long. I need another pair of eyes to look at it. This seems like something you'd be good at. What do you say?"

Nagisa made a great show of considering. "If I help you, will you give me your hat?" he asked.

"Of course not."

" _Alright_ ," Nagisa agreed with a mournful sigh.

 

~

They worked every night for the next week, poring over the map. They argued over every point, sometimes laughing, other times glaring daggers at each other, considering reaching for the real ones.

A few nights in, Kou was followed into the bar by a tall, broad-shouldered young man who wore his dark red hair pulled back by a green bandana. He didn’t smile at Nagisa as Kou introduced him as her brother, Rin. Rin had matching gold hoops in his eyebrow and in one ear lobe, and a stud in the shell of his upper ear. His teeth were pointed, forming a jagged line when he smiled, and Nagisa had to admit the effect was pretty intimidating. As he debated whether it was a good idea to ask about the teeth, Rin pushed his chair back and put his feet up on the table. Kou gave him a withering look.

Rin watched them work for some time, not interrupting, before sauntering off to the bar. Kou paid him no mind, and Nagisa thought he heard Rin winning a fist fight outside later in the evening.

Finally, the map lay on the table before them, covered in ink scribbles, but most importantly, a thick black X had been drawn in the upper left-hand third. They had cracked it.

"So," said Kou, sitting back in her chair and smiling at Nagisa over the table. Nagisa couldn’t pinpoint how much guile there was in that smile.

"So," he said.

"I have a proposal," she said.

When she had finished Nagisa propped his chin on one hand.

"That all sounds good to me, Kou-chan," he said nodding.

"But?"

"I have just one question. What makes you think you can trust me?"

Kou leered across the table, teeth bared, suddenly the spitting image of her brother.

"Oh, I don’t," she said, and she raised her glass to him.

 

~

A week later the plan was in motion. Nagisa accompanied the Matsuokas to visit the captain of the ship, and watched Kou work her magic. She was diplomatic and very practical as she cut the deal with the captain. She made sure not to hand over the map until everything was settled, and she kept Rin and Nagisa behind her the entire time to look menacing and casually stroke their weapons.

And it worked. Her direct, forthright approach yielded results. The captain agreed to their terms of splitting the treasure, when they found it, and even looked like he was creditably sincere. Nagisa was impressed, and surprised at Kou. She was so serious! She had feminine wiles and she didn't even deign to use them.

The month-long voyage to find the treasure was boring enough that at one point Nagisa brought this up, only to regret it. Kou didn't react well to the suggestion that she use her sex appeal, and she pulled out her dagger and held it to Nagisa's throat to make her point.

This was the most exciting thing that happened throughout the entire voyage. A month later, they were back at port, docked in the same harbor as before and ready to carry out their plan.

Evening fell on the first day the ship had arrived at port, and on deck the crew was preparing their ride to shore. Amidst the bustle of the ship, Kou strode purposefully up to the captain's quarters, Nagisa trotting behind her. Rin trailed behind them, looking almost bored. Nagisa could tell it was an act, though. Rin was no Kou, but he was better at this game than Nagisa had first given him credit for.

Kou rapped smartly on the door, and the captain emerged, looking amused. She smiled her sweetest at him.

"I just thought we ought to let you know before we left, sir," she said brightly. "It was a pleasure doing business with you." She clasped her hands behind her back, practically effervescent.

The captain laughed indulgently and clapped her on the shoulder, looking almost fond. Kou beamed.

"We should have a drink to celebrate!" Nagisa piped up.

"I don't believe a drink was part of our original arrangement," the captain said sternly, but barely gave Nagisa time to look crestfallen before continuing, "But since this was such a profitable venture for us all, I'll see what I can do." He grinned at them, flashing one gold tooth.

Nagisa just had time to close the door before there was a flurry of movement, a sharp intake of breath, and Rin stood behind the captain, sword glinting at his throat. The captain snarled something Nagisa didn't catch as he quickly drew the curtains and checked to make sure they weren't being watched by any crew members. They'd done their jobs. The crew trusted them.

Nagisa heard Rin laugh in response to whatever the captain had said. It wasn't a nice laugh. It was all teeth.

Kou crossed the darkened room with long strides, and as small as she was, she suddenly seemed to occupy more space. Her boots clicked on the varnished wood of the floor. Moving to the captain, she leaned close to him as Rin adjusted the blade at his throat, moving at the same instant as though they were synced.

Nagisa moved to the door with his hand on his dagger, ready to deal with any unsuspecting crewmen coming to speak with the captain.

"Captain," she said, her voice low, menacing yet matter-of-fact. "The location of the treasure or your neck. Which will it be?"

The captain's hands balled into fists, moving as if to lunge at her, and Rin pushed the sword hard against his skin with a wordless snarl. A drop of blood ran down his throat. Nagisa could tell the malice wasn't faked this time. Rin and Kou took threats to one another damn personally.

The captain sagged, exhaling deeply.

"It's in the second drawer of the last cabinet," he said.

"Excellent."

While Kou went to the treasure, loading the majority of it into her book satchel, Nagisa hopped up, producing a coiled loop of rope.

"Do you care which chair?" he asked the captain. Rin snorted.

Kou walked back to stand in front of the captain, her satchel slung casually over one shoulder. She tipped her head, the rim of her hat casting her eyes into shadow.

"It was a pleasure doing business with you," she said with a smile.

 

~

After that, the three of them roamed. They never stayed with one ship very long. They insinuated their way onto whatever crew looked like it would be the most lucrative, regardless of where it was from or where it was headed.

Maybe it was odd that the three of them stuck together, but they were a good team. Kou had a sharp, practical mind. She was good with logistics and tactics, and good at picking up languages. Nagisa didn't have her dedication or her clear-sightedness, but he admired her for these qualities he lacked and liked to think he added a certain personal panache to their partnership. And of course, he couldn't possibly leave without that hat.

Kou's brother was another story. Rin wasn't stupid, but his size, along with sheer bravado and self-consequence, meant that that didn't even matter. Nagisa saw Rin's brain as a muscle, one that was all the weaker because Rin didn't have cause to exercise it the way Nagisa and Kou had to. This was in stark contrast to Rin's actual muscles, which were tanned and showed to perfection in the sleeveless shirts and vests he always wore. Nagisa had once seen Rin admiring them in the glass of the forecastle's windows. It was a memory Nagisa treasured, one that he was waiting to bring up again at the most opportune moment.

The three of them wandered far afield, first heading south for an extended cruise along Malaysia, then weaseling their way onto the crew of a Russian steamer headed north for the Bering Strait.

They got into trouble before they even reached the Kamchatka Peninsula, and it was only Kou's quick talking and Nagisa's spying that kept the steamer's captain from slitting their throats and consigning them to a grim burial at sea.

The three of them ended up adrift in a lifeboat, and might have been stranded penniless in Siberia for the rest of their lives if they hadn't run into a crew of Japanese whalers who believed the three of them to be orphans who had barely escaped from a pirate attack with their lives. These men were so friendly Nagisa almost felt bad when he and the Matsuokas robbed them blind and disappeared at the next port city.

After that, the three of them stayed much closer to Japanese waters, and played it much safer. Nagisa chafed under this, sometimes, and he could tell Rin did as well. They were safer, sure, but their haul was nowhere near as big as it had been when they were living the high life on the high seas. No risk, no reward, after all, and they definitely weren't getting the rewards they could have been.

"I dunno what's with her lately," said Rin. "She's got no ambition."

"The Kamchatka incident put the scare in her," said Nagisa.

Rin shook his head. "Nah. Kou hasn't been scared of anything since she was 12 years old. Neither of us have."

Nagisa decided to let _that_ one pass, this time. He persisted. "It's true! If you were a better study of character, Rin-chan, you would understand."

"What, like you?" Rin snorted. "I don't see it. We've been through plenty of dangerous shit before."

"Sure, but the Kamchatka incident was different. We almost died. We were almost lost at sea and could have starved to death. It's the kind of near-death thingy that makes a thoughtful girl like Kou-chan feel something. She's had to grapple with the possibility of losing something incredibly important to her."

Rin still had a half-sneer on his face, but a crease had appeared between his brows. "OK. Fine. Yeah, she does have a soft spot where family's concerned, maybe, but--"

"I wasn't talking about you, Rin-chan, I was talking about her hat." Nagisa leaned to one side and felt the breeze that was Rin's fist just missing his face. One thing Nagisa had learned since travelling with them was that Rin's right hook was nothing to laugh about, and Nagisa had gotten good at avoiding it whenever he could.

 

~

Their luck changed when they met Hirano Naoto.

Hirano was the first mate on a pirate ship so large and well-known that even Nagisa had heard of it before. It was the flagship of one of the largest fleets in the Sea of Japan. Kou and Rin had known him since they were children, as it turned out, a fact no one ever bothered to tell Nagisa until he asked later on.

Rin ran into him by chance, and shortly after that, when Rin had given a brief explanation of their affairs, Hirano invited all three of them to join the crew. Nagisa was never quite clear if he had been looking for the Matsuokas specifically or if he just happened across them by chance. Hirano had the type of manner that made it hard to tell.

In any case, making the choice was easy. The three of them joined the crew. Nagisa couldn't believe Rin and Kou had stayed away from this fleet as long as they had, and he told them so one night a few weeks after they'd come aboard.

"I don't know why you didn't contact Naoto-chan about joining this crew a long time ago. He obviously loves you two," said Nagisa. "He treats you like his own children. How long did you say you've known him?"

Rin growled. "Lay off it, Nagisa."

Kou rolled her eyes. "It's not some big secret. And Nagisa, can you at least pretend to have a little respect for rank? A little decorum?"

"I'm not calling him Naoto-chan to his face, am I?" he asked, pouring himself more wine. He was just drunk enough to be chatty, but not drunk enough to be unwise. They had just come aboard, and the rest of the crew was treating them civilly, but with caution. That was why the three were drinking alone, for now. "So. Tell me how you met him. His majesty our first mate, I mean."

"We've always known him," said Kou, rolling her eyes again. "He was a friend of our father's."

"Interesting!" Nagisa had made a point of not asking too much about the siblings' past, because he didn't want them to develop a similar curiosity about his own, but in this case he made an exception. "Your father was a respectable landlubber type, right?"

"Don't be stupid, Nagisa," said Kou, snorting into her cup. "He was a pirate too. We don't remember much about him, though. Well, maybe Rin does. I was too small to remember when he died."

The two of them looked at Rin, who continued drinking as if he didn't hear the conversation. Kou sighed.

"I might as well tell you," she went on, "because you'll probably hear it from somebody else sooner or later anyway. Rin and I grew up on this ship."

Nagisa sat straight up. "Did you now? I didn't know that."

"Our caretaker when we were kids captained of one of the smaller ships in this fleet. He looked after us after our father died."

"Mmm. And what about your mother?"

"Never mind," snapped Rin suddenly. "What are you, the census taker? Mind your own damn business."

Nagisa didn't mind being told to buzz off, nor was he surprised. Rin-chan liked to maintain an aura of mystery about himself, after all. Nagisa chose that moment to walk across to the other side of the deck, where some of their fellow crew members were gathering.

Nagisa could tell even from across the ship that things were getting heated between the two. Rin said something angry-sounding to Kou, who, surprisingly, shot a sharp comment right back at him. Usually she was quite patient with her brother, but this didn't look to be one of those nights. Whenever the Matsuokas argued, it was always about the same things. Nagisa regretted listening to it, and regretted bringing up a contentious subject in the first place.

Sometimes he regretted partnering up with them at all, but that usually didn't last long. He couldn’t regret meeting Kou. In a way, it had been the luckiest thing to happen to him in his life. But life was messy, and he could tell that she wanted different things than he did, different things than most pirates did. He'd realized that about her almost as soon as he'd gotten to know her.

The chief thing Nagisa wanted right then, though, was something more to drink. He left the Matsuokas to it and decided to get to know some of his fellow crew members. It wasn't a bad crowd, but nothing special; the same songs, the same fistfights, the same card games that Nagisa could cheat easily. They weren't playing high enough for anyone to mind, but Nagisa eventually quit while he was ahead, before their goodwill towards him ran out.

Rin and Kou were still arguing, and still drinking.

"...low-lifes," Kou was saying, her speech slightly slurred. "I don't want to spend my whole life trying to stay one double-cross ahead of the rest of them."

"But we're great at that," Rin insisted. "We've been doing it since we were kids."

"It's a horrible life," Kou said, nodding to herself.

"No, it's not," Rin said, and for the first time he sounded genuinely defensive. "We're good at this. We're the best. Why are you so set on giving that up to fake it as some landlubber?"

Nagisa had suspected to hear something like this. It wasn't an important argument. It was the same one as ever, the same one they always had.

With great effort, Nagisa rose unsteadily to his feet.

"What are you doing, Nagisa?" Rin snapped. Suddenly he seemed glad to be done with fighting. "Get back here, you’ll go over the edge on accident."

"No," Nagisa called over his shoulder, sing-song. "Gotta hide." The idea suddenly seemed liked a tremendously good one, and the only course of action he could take.

When he woke, Nagisa was in a barrel. The sun shone down on the crown of his head, and he peeled his face from the side, blinking up at his surrounding. He couldn’t imagine what had possessed him to hide here. He scrambled out the top with some difficulty, hoping whatever it was had been fun enough to be worth it.

He straightened, and a sea breeze whipped his hair back, making him feel immediately more awake. There was some sort of commotion down on the main deck, and he peered back up at the sun, wondering how late he’d slept.

It was around noon, by the looks of it. Maybe the barrel thing hadn’t been such a bad idea after all, for future reference.

Nagisa meandered to the crowd on deck, one lock of hair still stuck to his forehead. Some new prisoners were being brought aboard. Nagisa peered under the first mate's arm, rubbing sleep out of one eye.

They didn’t look like anything particularly special. They were three young men, none of them sailors, much less pirates.

The prisoner standing in the middle had black hair and a striking, delicate face. Despite being dressed plainly in a white shirt and brown trousers, he stood out, all the more for the fact that he seemed completely calm, almost distracted. Nagisa watched quizzically as he held his hands still to be tied behind his back. The one to the right was unusually tall, with fluffy brown hair. His arms had already been bound to his sides, and he looked frantic.

The third prisoner wore a blue coat which matched his dark hair. His expression, more than anything, was irritable, as though being captured by pirates hadn’t factored into his plans for today at all, thank you very much. Nagisa stifled a giggle, watching as the man protested the loss of his pince-nez. Nagisa could even hear his strident, insistent voice from all the way up here.

"--Not even real gold on the chain!" the man was saying. "--No point at all in taking them! No point at all..."

Nagisa smiled. Maybe it was the noonday sun, or the refreshing night's sleep with his face pressed against the wooden slats of the barrel, but he was feeling very benevolent towards the world in general and the prisoner in particular. Nagisa sympathized with his plight, and thought he looked excessively heroic, even as he swatted insistently at the shoulder of the pirate going through his pockets, like an old lady fighting with a mugger over her purse.

Nagisa was so busy smiling over the prisoner that he didn't even notice when Kou came up behind him and hissed in his ear. "There you are," she said, and he turned, opening his mouth to point out to her how funny and beautiful the pince-nez man was, but their faces stopped him dead. Kou looked thin-lipped and urgent, and Rin behind her was pale and hunched, fidgeting with the sword at his side.

"What is it?" he said, looking at them in surprise. Something was up, he could tell. "Oh my god, don’t tell me they’re all your long lost brothers or something like that."

Kou just stared at him, her eyes wide.

Nagisa faltered. "...are they?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about all the OCs, they are very much my fault. There were originally more, and Bri went patiently through after me and edited them out. Shout out to Bri for saving me from myself, aka self-made Pirate OC Hell.
> 
> ~ K

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to tumblr user [quadlutz](http://meryldavis.co.vu/) for being our fantastic beta.
> 
> We have a tumblr [here](http://pirateswam.tumblr.com/) for updates or if you have any questions about this AU. :)


End file.
